A Room of My Own: Pink-Haired Sex Worker Haiku

her shadow
stretches longer and longer ...
pink-haired sex worker

Butterfly Dream: Drops of Light Haiku by Dan Iulian

English Original

early morning --
the cormorant’s wings shake
first drops of light

Honorable Mention, 2014 Matsuo Bashō Festival Haiku Contest

Dan Iulian


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

清晨 --
一隻鸕鶿的翅膀抖掉
最初的幾滴陽光

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

清晨 --
一只鸬鶿的翅膀抖掉
最初的几滴阳光


Bio Sketch

Dan Iulian, a Romanian haiku poet, currently works as senior researcher in Bucharest. Since 2011, he has won many  awards and honourable mentions for haiku in English, French, Italian and Romanian languages. His work was  published in various magazines and anthologies in Romania and abroad.

Butterfly Dream: Cold Moon Haiku by Neal Whitman

English Original

not a window
but a mirror
full cold moon
   
Second Prize, 2016 San Francisco International Contest

Neal Whitman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

不是一個窗戶
而是一面鏡子
一輪冷月

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

不是一个窗户
而是一面镜子
一轮冷月


Bio Sketch

Neal Whitman lives in Pacific Grove, California, with his wife Elaine. He is the haiku editor for Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine and is Vice President of the United Haiku and Tanka Society.

One Man's Maple Moon: Map Tanka by Rajani Radhakrishnan

English Original

migratory birds
make a note
on their map
a new tent city
shrinking the desert

Rajani Radhakrishnan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一群候鳥
在它們的地圖上
做個註記
一座新的帳篷城市
正使得沙漠縮小

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一群候鸟
在它们的地图上
做个注记
一座新的帐篷城市
正使得沙漠缩小


Bio Sketch

Rajani Radhakrishnan is from Bangalore, India.  Finding time and renewed enthusiasm for poetry after a long career in Financial Applications, she blogs at thotpurge.wordpress.com . Her poems have recently appeared in The Lake, Quiet Letter, Under the Basho and The Cherita.

Butterfly Dream: Dandelion Clock Haiku by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

dandelion clock
from one spent blossom
a hundred wishes

Editor's Choice Haiku, Cattails, Fall 2017

Rebecca Drouilhet


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

蒲公英花鐘
一朵開過的花
一百個願望

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

蒲公英花钟
一朵开过的花
一百个愿望


Bio Sketch

Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse whose haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous print journal and ezines.  She won a Sakura Award in the 2012 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitation and an Honorable Mention in that same contest in 20`7.  The Japanese Tanka Poets Society has awarded her a Certificate of Fine Tanka.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing word games and spending time with her large family in Picayune, Mississippi.

Butterfly Dream: Clay Buddha Haiku by Jackson Smith

English Original

old pond ...
a clay Buddha stares
into water's sound

Jackson Smith


Chinese Translation (Traditional)
   
古塘 ...
一座泥土佛像凝視
池水的聲音

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

古塘...
一座泥土佛像凝视
池水的声音


Bio Sketch

Jackson Smith is a writer and homemaker from Chicago, Il. He is a grateful heart transplant recipient. He first started writing to cope with isolation during the time in the hospital spent waiting for a new heart to become available. 

One Man's Maple Moon: Bridge Tanka by LeRoy Gorman

English Original

to get elected
they promise jobs
to build a bridge
big enough for the jobless
to jump from

Gusts, 25, Spring/Summer  2017

LeRoy Gorman


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

為了當選
他們承諾搭建一座橋樑
來創造就業
它對於失業者來說
大得足夠從橋上跳下

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

为了当选
他们承诺搭建一座桥梁
来创造就业
它对于失业者来说
大得足够从桥上跳下


Bio Sketch

LeRoy Gorman lives in Napanee, Ontario. His poetry, much of it minimalist and visual, has appeared in publications and exhibitions worldwide. He is the author of two dozen poetry books and chapbooks.

Butterfly Dream: Peace Talks Haiku by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

more peace talks …
a monal hen startled
by our approach

Shamrock, 32,  2015

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

更多的和平會談 ...
因為我們的逼近
一隻母雞嚇了一跳

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

更多的和平会谈...
因为我们的逼近
一只母鸡吓了一跳


Bio Sketch

Born and raised in the kingdom of Bhutan. Sonam Chhoki is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education. Her Japanese short form poetry has been published in journals and anthologies in several countries. She is the current haibun and haiku editor of the UHTS journal, cattails.

A Room of My Own: Just Words

a senryu sequence written for Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un

first peace talks
crows on the power line
answering crows

peace talks halted
a raven cries
into the gathering dark

peace talks resume
a small twist
to the president's mouth

One Man's Maple Moon: Twilight Sky Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

waiting for
the fireworks to begin
on the beach
I look up into the twilight sky
with my childhood loneliness

Gusts, 24,  Fall/Winter 2016

Kozue Uzawa


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在沙灘上
等待煙花
開始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤獨

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在沙滩上
等待烟花
开始怒放
我仰望暮色天空
想到我的童年孤独 


Bio Sketch

Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.

Butterfly Dream: Starlight Haiku by Marion Alice Poirier

English Original

starlight ...
under the blossoms
an old couple

Marion Alice Poirier


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

星光閃爍 ...
在盛開的鮮花底下
一對老夫婦

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

星光闪烁 ...
在盛开的鲜花底下
一对老夫妇


Bio Sketch

Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of  Boston, MA.  She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.

Butterfly Dream: Dog's Death Haiku by Charlotte Digregorio

English Original

our dog's death ...
her leash hangs next to
the children's coats

Acorn, 38, 2017

Charlotte Digregorio


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們的狗死了 ...
它的皮鏈掛在
孩子們的外套旁邊

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我们的狗死了...
它的皮链挂在
孩子们的外套旁边


Bio Sketch

Charlotte Digregorio has authored five reference books including Haiku and Senryu: A Simple Guide for All, and a haiku collection. Her haiku exhibit travels nationally. Winner of 41 poetry awards, Pushcart Prize nominee, former radio poetry program host and Haiku Society of America officer, she runs The Daily Haiku.

One Man's Maple Moon: Stags Tanka by Susan Mary Wade

English Original

two stags
their antlers locked in a combat
only one may win
summer
hastily decamping

The Tanka Journal, 47, 2015

Susan Mary Wade


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

兩隻雄鹿的鹿角
在鬥毆中卡住
只有一隻可能會贏
夏季
正匆忙地消逝

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

两只雄鹿的鹿角
在斗殴中卡住
只有一只可能会赢
夏季
正匆忙地消逝


Bio Sketch

Susan Mary Wade has been a regular contributor to The Tanka Journal (Japan Tanka Poets' Society) for several years now. Her tanka have appeared worldwide in many magazines and been anthologized. In 2009 and 2016 she was awarded a Certificate of Merit at the 6th & 8th International Tanka Festival Competitions in Japan.

A Room of My Own: Real News About Fake News

a haibun written in the spirit of senryu

Any resemblance to current events or actual locales, or to living persons, is not coincidental.

election night

I too lose this pissing contest

with my shadow

Poetic Musings: Afterlife Haiku by Peggy Willis Lyles

into the afterlife red leaves

Modern Haiku, 41:1, Winter/Spring 2010
Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems, 2010 

Peggy Willis Lyles
      
Commentary by the Touchstone Awards Panel   

... Buddhists believe the River Styx separates the world of the dead from the world of living. Red spider lilies bloom on the shore on the side of the living. In previous life cycles, we could be those red leaves falling to the ground. We may have no memory of previous lives and will not know who and what will be in our next lives, but somewhere in those repeating cycles, our paths will cross with the one who entered the other world before us ...

The following haiku is the opening poem in "Section Two: Featured Haiku," Ripples from a Splash: A Collection of Haiku Essays with Award-Winning Haiku by Chen-ou Liu

river's edge

red leaves fall

into a poem

in memory of Peggy Willis Lyles who helped me publish my first English language haiku

and in response to her "red leaves" haiku